Friday, December 4, 2009

Your Mama Hears...

...from Wanda Wantsyoutoknow that there's been a unexpected residential real estate transaction in Beverly Hills so massive that it will straighten the curly locks of real estate watchers and give mega-manse selling ladees like Candy Spelling ($150,000,000), Suzanne Saperstein ($125,000,000) and Iris Cantor ($53,000,000) a whisper of hope like perfume on a breeze that a gallant knight with behemoth bank accounts might ride into town and relieve them of their shockingly high-priced white elephants in Los Angeles.

Now then, hold on to your real estate britches children because Wanda, a well-connected gal who works the real estate in some of the better zip codes of Los Angeles and, natch, prefers to remain anonymous, just whispered in Your Mama's ear that Apple co-founder and multi-billionaire Steve Jobs has gone and purchased The Knoll, the former estate of deceased oil and movie magnate Marvin Davis and his philanthropic wife Barbara. Wanda says word on the real estate grapevine is that Mister Jobs forked over a equilibrium ruining $53,000,000 for the sprawling Schuyler Road estate.

Lo-ward have mercy butter beans, Your Mama did not even know the property was being shopped around to tech titans, foreign potentates or any other billionaire buyers for that matter. But then again, we really know so little about these things.

Anyhoo, property records and previous reports state the the current owner, tool and die tycoon Eric Smidt, scooped up the hilltop property estate in February of 2005. The prodigious 10.77-acre Davis property was priced as high as $70,000,000 and, although records to not reveal a purchase price, reports from the time of the sale indicate that "people with knowledge of the transaction" whispered to the press that the deal went down for right around $46,000,000.

At the time of the purchase, the Roland Coates designed manse known as The Knoll was built in 1955, measured a monstrous 25,427 square feet and included 11 bedrooms and a staggering 17 terlits. There were, additionally, at least two guest houses, a 30-seat 35-mm movie theater, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a tennis court, and 7 fireplaces. Missus Davis was well known for her extravagant day-core which, as Your Mama understands, sometimes manifested itself in not so subtle ways such as a staircase lined with mirrors that reflected that lavish interior space ad infinitum. That sounds dizzying at best and nauseating at worst, but these are sometimes the wacky interior dee-zine ways of the very, very rich.

Mister Smidt, who also owns one of the largest spreads up in the guard gated Beverly Park community, has spent millions and, as we understand from some of our fancier friends, the last few years giving The Knoll a full-on face lift in the form of a gut renovation and interior overhaul. Your Mama does not know if the re-did residence is complete or if there remains any this and thats to be done to the interiors, exteriors and landscaping. Thanks to one of Your Mama's eagle-eyed kiddies, we've learned that the structural elements of the massive manse were done over by architects Hablinski-Manion who have designed many large and elaborate estates in Los Angeles and whose plan, according to their website called for transforming the the Davis' "contemporary Georgian" into a "white brick Regency residence." A few snaps of a model of the estate as proposed and planned can be seen here.

Of course, as soon as Wanda spilled her dee-voon real estate beans, Your Mama got on the horn to inquire with a few of our better connected informants and within minutes heard back from Whispering Wendy, another gutsy gal who works her real estate stuff in the finer sections of Tinseltown, who told us she heard the very same scuttlebutt as Your Mama.

Now listen puppies, real estate transaction records do not currently reveal a property transfer from Mister Smidt to Mister Jobs or other entity at this point so be smart and recognize this is all just rumor and gossip. Rumor and gossip. For now.

UPDATE LATER SAME DAY: We quote from an Beverly Hills real estate insider regarding the rumors floating up and down Cañon Drive in Bev Hills about Steve Jobs buying The Knoll: "Lies."

Jeezis, Mary and Joseph Your Mama is all kinds of confounded and positively perplexed now. We don't know what to believe about this juicy but perhaps completely inaccurate real estate rumor anymore. In an effort to untangle our gin soaked and bamboozled brain, we're gonna have another gin & tonic and a damn nerve pill. That ought to put us in the frame of mind to forget all about this nonsense.

30 comments:

The property at 1130 Schuyler got scraped. you can see it from Greystone next door if you park over there. The old decor can be seen in an issue of Unique Homes, probably around 2004-2005. Ugly doesn't even begin to describe it.

The Knoll is still there. The land around it, the guest houses, outdoor pool - all gone. A new underground wing was built off the back and the main house gutted, expanded, and remodeled. The land around it has all be re-graded & terraced. Mama - take the long-bodied bitches for their walk up at Greystone (Mrs. Doheny's home before she built The Knoll). Wander over to the walk along the west property line and you will see The Knoll in all it's glory. Unless the hedges have filled in over the past 6 months.

I doubt Jobs would ever move to LA.If he wanted to he would have a long time ago. Especially with his health issues I don't see this happening.

Now with regards to Abramovich, he seems more likely to buy one of the mega mega mansions. Candy Spelling's home is just not ostentatious enough for them. I see him more likely purchasing something like Saperstein's.

Leigh and Lucy Doheny Battson installed some of Greystone's interior elements in The Knoll such as the library's paneling and the barber chair. Land was parceled off the Doheny's acreage in the mid-1950's to build The Knoll. Greystone Estate (a separate entity from the surounding Doheny Ranch) was sold to Chicago's Henry Crown, and the remaining 400+ acres of the ranch were sold to Paul Trousdale who developed Trousdale Estates.

The Battsons sold The Knoll to Dino de Laurantiis around 1975, who sold it to Kenny Rogers in 1980, who sold it to Marvin Davis in 1984.

The Knoll was, for a long time, the largest post-war estate built in Beverly Hills, and I believe Greystone is the largest pre-war residence constructed in Beverly Hills. Both properties are truly two of the greatest estates in Beverly Hills

Lucy married Leigh in 1932 after Ned Doheny's 1929 murder in Greystone mansion. Leigh died in 1977 at 86, and Lucy died in 1993 at 101.

Previous comments are correct. The Knoll's construction can be seen from the western path at Greystone (now a public park), next to the swimming pool pavilion.

old fart, very good memory, yes this was the house that Mr.Rogers discovered the "decorator double billing scandal"....seems he paid for everything not once but many things twice,yes lots of big flowery sofas, the decoraters trade mark

I live just up the street from The Knoll. It was completely torn down and the walls and windows are in but it isn't even close to being finished. The entire property was re terraced and includes a new entrance that wraps through an actual tunnel that you drive through to access the property. The family that bought it, as far as I know, still own it and plan on living there. I don't know them personally but know many people who do and haven't heard any gossip about a change of ownership.

Billy-Are you sure about the Woodside estate? I believe historical preservationists wouldn't let him tear down the estate on 450 Mountain View Road and won. When did Jobs finally get the "ok" to tear down?Or is this another estate Jobs owns?

Billy-You're right. I just checked on Google and it's a GO! I can't believe Jobs had to wait so stinkin' long to work on his own property. Jobs' best friend, Larry Ellison, had no problem getting the ok to tear down the historic Julia Morgan property to overspend $200 million dollars to duplicate the Emperor's Palace of Japan. For that kind of money, Ellison could have relocated the palace itself!

re: Carla in California: Tearing down anything designed by Julia Morgan is a CRIME. These precious places should all be deemed historical and important...not torn down to fit someone's whim. Boo to Larry Ellison (and to anyone else thinking of tearing down history)

a couple of corrections: first the land that the knoll was built on was not part of the doheny ranch. there was the greystone segment and the segment that makes up trousdale. second, the knoll was not torn down,but as previously stated, was gutted! most of the exterior buildings for staff, just like lucy doheny battson had built on the greystone property in 1932, were removed from the knoll property.

Chris - Copa de Oro & Bel Air Rd are in Bel Air. Both are much smaller than The Knoll. The Bel Air Rd property is likely the former David H Murdock estate. The Knoll is next to Greystone Park which is on Doheny above Sunset.

You can see The Knoll from certain parts of Calle Vista and it is still being built (looked like it was totally torn down and rebuilt to me). It would be odd for someone to try to buy it at this stage of construction, assuming the people who are building it are probably designing it to their own taste.

William Hablinski, aka Bill Hablinksi was to marry Nicky Sensale (after having relationships with Susan (Susie) Maple and Donna Livingston-plus about 10 other women), all while married to Leigh Hablinski. Bill Hablinski is still married to Leigh. Leigh discovered how serious the relationship with the much younger Model/Pilates Studio owner Sensale had become and closed down their residence in LA and restricted Bill's future visits to LA. Co-workers and friends of William Hablinski-whom have meet Sensale, state he plans to return to LA and hopefully resume with Sensale in the future, once his business restructure is redefined. Sensale resides in Newport Beach, CA. The Hablinski's are residents of Austin, TX.

Its easy read the writing on the wall for this married couple. That is---the very old writing on the wall...